Education

One of the mandates from the Idaho Constitution is that it “shall be the duty of the legislature of Idaho, to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.” To this end, education accounts for over 50% of the state budget, excluding the contributions from local taxpayers through property taxes for supplemental levies, facilities levies and bonds. The recovery of funding that was lost during the economic downturn of the past five years is a high priority. However, as we replace lost funding and find new funding we need to be cognitive that we cannot continue to do things as we have in the past. Professional Compensation changes are needed to attract and retain the best educators, while holding educators accountable for improving outcomes and more challenging standards. These expectations must respect that parents want choices for their children. Allowing parents’ choice of traditional public schools, charter schools, private schools, digital learning opportunities or homeschooling should maximize these outcomes.